THE temporary closure of Ilkley's household waste tip could hit residents doubly hard - because Leeds City Council has banned them from using the next nearest one.

People in Menston and Burley-in-Wharfedale are also barred from the Ellar Ghyll tip, even though it is closest to them.

Leeds officials have made a ruling that only residents living in the authority's own area can use its tips, which include the one at Ellar Ghyll, near Menston.

The situation is going to get worse when Ilkley's Golden Butts tip is closed for refurbishment.

Residents in the area will then have to drive as far as Bingley or Keighley to get rid of their household waste.

And it comes at a time when Bradford and other local authorities are encouraging more recycling and the proper disposal of household waste,

The controversial plan to redesign Golden Butts Household Waste Site, on Golden Butts Road - near the centre of Ilkley - was approved by Bradford Council last week.

The plan has brought concern from people living around the waste site, who ranked noise, smells and traffic fumes among their worries. It also attracted wider concern through the town, as some residents claimed the site, in a built-up area, was not suitable for the future expansion in activities as the recycling trend grows.

Some instead called for a new waste site to be built in a non-residential area on the outskirts of Ilkley.

Ilkley ward councillor and Bradford Council environment head, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, said Golden Butts could close for weeks while it is refurbished, leaving residents seeking an alternative place to dump household waste and deposit waste for recycling.

Ellar Ghyll falls just inside the Leeds local authority boundary, and people living in Otley and Aireborough can continue to use the site.

Signs at Ellar Ghyll, however, warn that waste will not be accepted from non-residents of the Leeds local authority area, and one was said to be warning visitors that anyone disposing of someone else's waste risks a year's prison sentence or a £50,000 fine.

Councillor Hawkesworth said she was asking Bradford Council waste officers to look into the situation.

She said: "I'm asking them to look into what's going on and at the same time what's happening about Ellar Ghyll."

Another Bradford councillor, Matt Palmer (Con, Wharfedale) last week began campaigning for Leeds City Council to allow Burley and Menston villagers to use Ellar Ghyll, as their nearest tip.

Leeds City Council said the restrictions bring it in line with other local authorities, which have for some time denied Leeds residents access to their own civic sites.

Leeds said the cost of waste disposal was continuing to rise and the new Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme would penalise Leeds council tax payers if the authority continued to fund other authorities' waste disposal.

While Golden Butts is closed for work, residents of Ilkley, Burley and Menston will have to travel around ten miles to reach their nearest Bradford Council waste site, if they cannot use Ellar Ghyll.